What Went Wrong With Mega Man? Here’s What Capcom’s Christian Svensson Feels

Mega Man has seen better days. Following the cancellation of both Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3, the only upcoming Mega Man title on the horizon is a social game for iPhone and iPad, and information on another major Mega Man game is scarce.

So, what went wrong? Capcom USA’s Senior Vice-President, Christian Svensson, has an opinion of his own, which he shared on Capcom’s forums this week. Responding to a forum user who asked if there was a possibility of the Mega Man franchise being rebooted, Svensson replied:

Thanks for the suggestion. I (and probably I alone so please don’t ascribe said belief to “Capcom”) think one of the problems MM has had as a brand is that we’ve had too many competing splinter sub-brands within it. I’m not sure starting yet another is the way to get the franchise as a whole back on track more than creating greater brand confusion but we’ll take it under advisement.

Thanks for the suggestion and your passion.

Following the NES games, on the PlayStation, Capcom released two series of Mega Man games—Mega Man X and Mega Man Legends. Then, on the Game Boy Advance, Capcom released several games in the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero series. Finally, on the Nintendo DS, there was Mega Man Star Force and Mega Man ZX.

Things aren’t over for Mega Man, though. Earlier in the year, Svensson mentioned that “top men” at Capcom were discussing and planningMega Man’s future for the next ten years. Additionally, both Capcom Japan and Capcom USA will be doing their own celebrations for Mega Man’s 25th anniversary. The anniversary festivities in the USA will kick off in December.

I really liked the Battle Network/.EXE games when I played them but he’s definitely got a point. There were just so many games that it got a bit overwhelming for newcomers to the series.

British_Otaku

While there are a lot of games, the franchises are mostly independent and the games are welcoming to new comers unlike games with heavier stories.

Battle Network/ .EXE always had a homework introduction before starting off and nearly every other game can be hopped in with the mindset of “Jump and Shoot”. There isn’t really a barrier. There isn’t a heavy amount of lore to missed and even games with some to missed like Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls have done well enough on new systems.

D H

Yeah. Going to completely avoid the comments for this post mostly. As a Mega Man fan since my childhood, I’ve been just… appalled by the community ever since the Legends 3 issue. Yes, it sucks, but really, it’s time to move on. No news is not bad news. If they don’t make any games for a few years, it’s okay. The old ones aren’t going anywhere.

Personally, I think it went astray with Mega Man 9 & 10. I love the games, but they are the antithesis to what Mega Man needs to survive. We need to move out of that retro area. I’m not talking changing the gameplay or anything (although I’d be interested in a modern take on a Mega Man title, in the vein of Darksiders, God of War, Dante’s Inferno, etc, a nice 3d platformer with a variety of enemies and environments, although obviously focused more on ranged combat, a la Uncharted), a 2D side scrolling series can still work. But we need to up the presentation. I see way too many people wanting a “16-bit” X9 or “8-bit” classic 11, and that’s not going to solve anything. Sure, they are probably cheaper to turn out, but you aren’t going to capture any new audience with them. I realize that retro can be big, and graphics are far from what should matter in a game, but it doesn’t change the fact that graphics are the first thing people today look at in a game. Give us either some nice, 3D models and stages, HDR lightning and whatever other technical stuff you can, or some high-res, hand drawn 2D sprites and well done effects. You have to make it pretty, or people aren’t going to notice it.

Mega Man Universe may have been a step in the right direction, but it was too constrained. Mega Man has existed very well past Mega Man 2. Let’s move the gameplay past that level as well. There is no reason not to include Mega Man’s slide and charge abilities. Even the remake of 1, Powered Up, offered these in the form of alternate characters, the same as Universe was implied to do. However, while it made sense for that game, as it took place in a time before Mega Man should have those abilities, Universe made less sense with it, other than the appearance of the MM2 robot masters, which means it could’ve been another remake.

I actually like that Capcom is taking their time with this. Yes, Xover looks awkward right now, and as an iOS game, I don’t and never will have a system to play it on unless they also release an Android version at one point. However, it is a nice tip of the hat that nicely represents the 25th anniversary of the series, representing everything the series has become while playing more like what most people remember it. However, I’m tired of the retro feeling. I’m looking forward to the next iteration, although I do agree that any more splintering needs to wait until the remaining series are closed out. I’d love to see a nice, high-res 2D/3D X9, MM11, or even Legends 3, and I’m willing to wait and see what comes out of it. I’m not going to boycott anything, scream, moan, whine, or state Capcom is trying to ruin the series, because honestly, they don’t care, and if it makes money, it makes money. Sad but true fact of everything in this world.

Now, that said, I’m really really really hoping for some nice updated Anniversary Collections. I’d love to have Mega Man 1-10 on a BD/DVD, with all the bells of whistles of the Complete Works series, the extra robot masters from Saturn 8, and all the DLC content of 9 & 10 included. Throw in Battle & Chase, Mega Man & Bass (SNES version), and hell, even the Game Boy games (sure, they’d look pretty horrible on a modern TV, but I’d love it all the same). An X Collection updated with X1-X8, with X7-X8 remastered to support HD, and throw in Command Mission the same way while you’re at it. Honestly, the touchscreen wasn’t used too much, so throw in Zero 1-4 and ZX/ZXA in there too.

Basically, community needs to calm down, enjoy the fun, and relax; there are so many opportunities, and if they appear like they could make money, Capcom will pursue them. If not, then they’ll be pursued when they do. It may take a year, it may take ten years, but in the long run, it doesn’t matter.

D H

Also, forgot to mention one other thing on my mind. Super Metroid was an amazing game. AMAZING. And then nothing. For eight years, eight nice long no news years (well, okay, 7 no news years). Then Metroid Prime got announced, and everyone hated it, “why is it FPS,” etc. Of course, Metroid Prime is an amazing game. AMAZING. Possibly even more amazing than Super Metroid in my opinion, which obviously will be countered by everyone ever on the internet. But, my point is, time is a good thing. Time leads to change. Change is not a bad thing.

http://www.facebook.com/pablo.j.rapetti Pablo Joaquin Rapetti

I would say they are at the same level. Metroid Prime was one of the best or directly the best shooter/adventure of its generation. Retro Studios really made a marvel.

http://www.facebook.com/pablo.j.rapetti Pablo Joaquin Rapetti

Being a Megaman fan since I was 5 and now being 23 years old and also being Megaman X my favorite game ever… I couldn’t agree with you more.

TheRealMalek

So just go back to the X series, reboot it and a lot of fans will be happy.

Spider-Man

They’ll find a reason to complain, still.

Raharu95

They will, but at least most fans will be happy. It is inevitable to for some people to complain about something

British_Otaku

Did you just say the “R word”? >_>
I’m up for X continuing (as is anyone who follows a franchise with so many sub-franchises and sequels for each one) but a reboot will definitely get hostile responses.

Either they do an independent series which is new and respectable or they continue in a respectable fashion. Both can exist. There isn’t much middle ground though.

Rebooting is already an issue that DMC is going through.

Godmars

After decades, of going from the original MM, they went from MMX to MML, Battle Network and ZX. And from there they went back to MM.

They needed to try something new when they had already done – almost – everything else, and they didn’t. They didn’t even have faith enough to try.

kevinposta

While what he’s saying is somewhat true I highly doubt that’s reason enough to shoot down two games from already existing sub-franchises.
There’s definitely a lot going behind the scenes about Mega Man and I believe it isn’t in Capcom’s best interests to disclose us the details.

SLick123456789111

Well basically , they got shot down because Keiji Inafune made Capcom look slow at TGS. (In Kenzo’s mind that is.) Even though Keiji was addressing JP as a whole.
Kenzo Tsujimoto didn’t take kindly to that & pulled a Vince Mcmahon.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3MJYF6S4zQ

Ooh Bee

More BS from Svensson as usual. Y’all made Mega Man 9 and 10 no problem and were pumping out DS games no problem. Then Inafune left and all of sudden they’re acting like people don’t want MM and there’s too many “sub-brands”? Ok, Capcom. And we all know their “10 year plan” is to give it the SF and MVC treatment. No new main MM games and then a random announcement saying “YOU ASKED FOR IT AND YOU GOT IT” when really we wanted it all along.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

And Megaman 9 and 10 did poorly there and the DS game themselves never really did great compared to their other franchise too.

For a company which main purpose is to look for profit, you should be grateful that they are still thinking of celebrating Blue Bomber 25th anniversary there.

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu of Spades

And just like Castlevania, Megaman was also a humongous brand that spanned so much that it’s tough for it to keep up with the current times and welcome newcomers. And just as Konami decided for their own franchise to start over (i.e. reboot), so should Megaman. Of course, it varies on who will be fit to develop such a thing.

Now here’s the current challenge for Capcom if they are, or if indeed they are still valuing the Blue Bomber franchise as part of their line-up; A risky and daring leap of faith with a reboot that can be a hit and miss; (Possible negative lash backs also to those who grew with the original incarnation of the character and setting.)

Or stick to the current sub-brands and try to smoothen things out on the Robotics Universe. Seems the .Exe and Ryuusei universe have already completed their run.

ugh i don’t care anymore and seeing everyone running around saying “Reboot Reboot” is kinda sad (Really don’t care for reboots in every form, sometimes its fine but its most due to laziness or bad feedback is why something is called a “reboot”).
Really, just shut up about Megaman, Capcom and let it die, you don’t see a why or try to make the series get people interested and remember X6, i doubt Capcom can do anything great with Inafune

Paradox me

Though it pains me to say it, I think the days of Mega Man as a flagship franchise have rightfully come to an end.

He’s 25 years old at this point, which is nothing short of amazing. How many games from the 8-bit days went on to spawn franchises that have remained relevant for nearly as long?

Truth be told, I just can’t picture Mega Man being modernized. Mega Man Legends is pretty much the model for that, but I get the feeling that they’re interested in revitalizing the series with a long-term solution, not postponing its demise with a type of game that performed poorly in its previous outings.

I’ve seen various suggestions and the only approach that would really set itself apart from Legends’ style would be a FPS in the vein of Metroid Prime. After all, both were side-scrolling platformers that involve a lot of shooting, power ups and wild bosses. Upon closer examination, however, we see that in addition to all of that, Metroid was many other things. Chief among them:

-Exploration. Not merely making it through ‘stages’ as quickly and efficiently as possible, but to uncover hidden paths, search every corner of the map, satiate your curiosity, etc. This is probably the feature that made Metroid’s modern makeover not only a great idea, but a great success as well.

Moreover, Metroid’s level designed resembled believable areas for the most part.

Mega Man has next to no elements of exploration and its level design, besides being linear, is far more abstract. It’s always been designed specifically to provide challenging obstacles for the player to overcome.

-Atmosphere. Super Metroid had about as much atmosphere as a 16-bit game could. Brinstar, Norfair, the Wrecked Ship, you name it. It just so happens that Metroid Prime oozes atmosphere, which lends itself incredibly well to a first-person game.

Mega Man isn’t quite as atmospheric. In fact, it isn’t. At all. Thus, I find myself questioning the point of a first-person perspective. In my humble opinion, it is not a perspective designed to mesh well with “game-y” games like Mega Man.

Now, you can change these things. You can change the level design and make it atmospheric, less abstract. But at what point does it stop being Mega Man? Metroid Prime was great because it literally took every aspect of Metroid and adapted it flawlessly. It was Metroid through and through.

What I think needs to happen is, well, exactly what’s happening right now. It’s sad for longtime fans, sure, but I think his appearances should be few and far between. He should still be celebrated, if only as a corporate mascot.

Everything must eventually end, and while the nature of some series have allowed them to evolve alongside the medium, I feel that Mega Man was was not designed to endure.

Peace Legacy

No offense, but have you played much MegaMan game? Or just some 8 bit titles then start criticizing it.

“Mega Man has next to no elements of exploration and its level design”
All of the hidden hearts, subtanks, capsules in the X series alone beg to differ. The Zero series’ cyber elves, the ZX interconnecting hidden areas, etc (and Megaman BN, SF and Legends itself is already made base on exploration in mind)

“Mega Man isn’t quite as atmospheric. In fact, it isn’t”
The 2D X series alone already have more than what you can label as atmospheric environment: Ocean floor tropical forest, sky base, inside a volcano, cyber world, war zone, moving train, scrap yards, frozen city, arctic, etc
In fact, just look at a youtube video of… Web Spider stage for certain, and tell me that it is not atmospheric

Heck, if you want a classic example, then just look at…Tengu man stage footage perhaps?

Paradox me

I own and have played every game in the Classic, X and Legends series. Only the first Zero and no ZX or Battle Network.

The are some exceptions, but overall I don’t feel that level design would lend itself well to a first-person title.

As for exploration, hidden subtanks, capsules/chips, etc. aren’t quite what I had in mind. They’re the result of uncovering hidden areas and such, but the actual exploration element isn’t the same. Metroid isn’t sectioned off into levels per se, and depending on your abilities you can pretty much go wherever, whenever.

Mega Man levels are generally just that, levels. They’re more enclosed and designed with forward progression in mind. It’s exploration lite, so to speak.

Like I said, they can change it. Legends had honest to goodness exploration and a FPS could borrow from that. I was merely pointing out why Metroid Prime worked so well and how the rules wouldn’t quite be the same were Mega Man to follow suit.

sd28

you should really play zx or advent since you are describing them

Paradox me

The ZX series and Zero Collection have been on my list since I got a 3DS. Just have to find the time.

Peace Legacy

Zero collection is fine
but the ZX series isn’t worth your time, don’t try it.

http://profile.yahoo.com/GFQYYWFUR2SBFLKIITVECS5NAI Erik

>How many games from the 8-bit days went on to spawn franchises that have remained relevant for nearly as long?

That’s my point, really. There are some truly excellent series listed here, and that Mega Man is among their ranks when hundreds of other titles have faded into obscurity really says something.

It’s had a better run than most game series could ever hope to.

http://profile.yahoo.com/64FR24MRVTIQFWGYINH2B62SI4 x

NO.
Not every game should be a FPS, certainly not Mega Man.
The same approach used by Mega Man Legends could be applied to any other series in the Mega Man franchise, and would certainly lend itself better to the classic or X series than turning it into another crappy FPS.

Metroid should have never been turned into an FPS either.

http://chronotwist.deviantart.com/ JustThisOne

I almost totally agree with you. It would be difficult to modernize the MM game, but I don’t think it’s impossible. Nor do I think it was designed not to endure.

Level design was something MM was always strong with. The environments and settings were varied, and the stage gimmicks also followed logical progression. It may seem abstract, but there are actually a lot of cues, pointing to what you should or could do. Also, I do think the games are atmospheric, but not in the same way that Metroid is.

Which brings me to my next point: MM would never work as a FPS. Like I said, level design was always MM’s strongest suit, and taking away that third-person perspective would really limit the amount of obstacles at their disposal. Example, putting in hammer joes might seem cheap, because you wouldn’t be able to see them until you’ve climbed right into their line of fire. Or having complicated/precise platforming segments could get frustrating, because first person jumping is almost always difficult to gauge. (You can’t see your feet.)

Anyway, I digress. Megaman does have a lot of things going for it, but it’s going to be hard to make a new title that not only lives up to it’s predecessors but also revolutionizes the franchise. In other words, they’re going to have to reinvent Megaman, while somehow keeping it’s strong suits in mind. However, I can see what you mean, because something like this is really easy to screw up. When there are too many screw ups within a franchise, perhaps it’s better off dead.

CirnoLakes

“Mega Man First Person Shooter”
NO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

GameTaco

Without going crazy like some others, I basically can best say that you had it right in the first place by saying that Mega Man Legends is the best shot Capcom has at a “modernized” Mega Man (not that it wants to admit it). Yeah, as others have said, maybe an FPS wouldn’t work. But know what? I don’t think FPS games are Capcom’s strong point anyway. They’re more for the third person perspective, and of course, Legends was essentially a third person shooter. Let’s not forget the argument that the entire original purpose of the Lost Planet franchise was so that there would be a working engine to serve as the backbone for Legends 3, back when it was to be a console title.

Furthermore, I honestly feel as though a bit of the “character” is lost in the first person perspective. It’s more for games where you’re a silent protagonist or are supposed to “be” the character. It’s a conflicting design that provides a sense of immersion while at the same time detracting from the character. In short: Do players want a Mega Man game where they don’t even see Mega Man other than his Buster arm? It could certainly work, but I think it needs an appropriate gimmick, like the Morph Ball in Metroid Prime that forces you back to the third person perspective.

But anyway, as one poster mentioned, maybe what the franchise needs is a modern reboot. No, not another retro-style sidescroller, or a remake of the first game with yet another entirely new art style (let’s face it, Universe’s default Mega Man was ugly. WHY SO ANGRY). Go back to the origin story. Just a story about a robot boy that decides/is chosen to become specced for combat in order to protect the world and his creator. That’s your pitch, your premise. Now, inject what made Legends work, what you said made Metroid Prime work. Where can you explore? What is the world like before and after Wily begins his plot? Will there be collectible upgrades and items beyond the traditional mechanic of taking the powers of defeated Robot Masters?

That’s how one should think in regards to the 25th anniversary. Look how far the series has come since the NES, and then apply the root of it all to the technology we have now. If you can have a third party developer reboot Devil May Cry after just a few short years, I think I have the right to say that Mega Man is long overdue for a similar treatment.

Anyway, that’s my wall of text for the day/hour/next couple of minutes. I guess my point is: The insistence that “Classic” Mega Man is only fit for retro-style sidescrollers may in fact be precisely the reason why Capcom is beginning to believe that the franchise is no longer viable. It’s no secret that the reason why they do so is because it’s comparatively cheap. Still, when you think of all the budget wasted on two canceled projects that could get things rolling again… Do they really care anymore?

SLick123456789111

Thank you sir.
I hope you don’t mind , but I’m saving your post in NotePad for future references.

d19xx

“What Went Wrong With Mega Man?”

*Looks at iPhone tag at the top left part of the article.*

http://profile.yahoo.com/GFQYYWFUR2SBFLKIITVECS5NAI Erik

“what went wrong”? You mean aside from cancelling 2 highly anticipated games and blaming the fans for one of them in addition to not catering to fan demands even when the poll cearly showed it; instead did something else that was claimed to “not have worked” in the prequel to all of a sudden “work” in the expansion pack eventhough the mechanics has barely changed? Or deciding to create iOS games, one of them being a severe downgrade port and the other an obvious cash-grabbing game?

Inafking and iirc CyberConnect even offered to finish one of those cancelled games, but to no response.

Mario and Zelda has barely changed in the last 20 or so years while CoD still commands a number even if it was rehashed and Kotick got bad publicity. Stagnantation is NOT an issue.

Tell me, Capcom. What’s “wrong”?

Model_M

I wouldnt have considered MM Universe to be “highly anticipated”…

http://chronotwist.deviantart.com/ JustThisOne

I can see his point, but I also feel like that wasn’t the main root of the problem. I’m assuming a lot of the problem comes from figuring out a way to modernize the game, while still keeping the Megaman flair.

But yeah, I can see how a ton of different sub-franchines can keep development from even starting. It might be difficult to gauge the interest for that one fraction.

http://twitter.com/Romangelo Román Monterossa

this series can continue with the same graphics as X4, X5, X6 and X7…

not X8 which look awful in 3D

and I agree with his opinion, MM has too much sub-series. they should focus on Mega Man and Mega Man X series.

hadjimurad

he’s exactly right. as someone who used to buy every mega man game – it was like an event as a kid – when they started to expand in a lot of directions from the main series, it was too hard to keep up, and the mystique was diluted.

i don’t think it needs a reboot, i think there just needs to be a new real mega man game in the spirit of the original series (upgrades in everything can occur, but the gameplay and spirit must remain).

Herok♞

I understand the reasoning but the thing is at any point in the History of Megaman, I don’t think more then 3 different subdivisions at once, plus even then most continued previous story lines in natural progression. Finally in the case of MML3 it was already apart of the most unique Megaman series so it wouldn’t have created another new subdivision, so it should have been fine in this reasoning and no other Megaman game would have conflicted with its release since there weren’t and still aren’t any other major games being released, you can at least finish the game and then go on hiatus because its cruel to mess with something people wanted for 10 years. Also its even worse they are still doing a game since they got rid of people wanted with Legends 3 with this reasoning yet Xover can still be made with the same exact reasoning in place, if you are going to suspend a series nothing should come out for it otherwise you send the impression of lazyness and greed and also kill good will from fans like with what happened here.

epy

Say whatever you want but if Inafune were still a Capcom, we would still be getting Megaman games and nothing “would have gone wrong”. Hell, in a parallel universe, instead of this article we would have an announcement for Megaman X: The Elf Wars (God, I want the Elf Wars done). We would even have people saying “Geez, ANOTHER Megaman game?! They just did Megaman Legends 3 like 6 monts ago!”

isfuturebright

The problem isn’t too many subseries.. I think the problem is that each subseries has FAR TOO MANY SEQUELS.

Some subseries should have ended alot sooner but not for Capcom that wants your money all the way. The problem with too many sequels too soon is that it just floods the franchise I mean there’s like 10 Megaman games, 9 Megaman X games, 4 Megaman Zero, 7 Battle Network Games, 3 Starforce Games, 2 ZX Games, 2 legends games.

So that’s the problem IMO.

epy

If that was a problem Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest would be done too. I consider myself a big Megaman fan, yet I’ve never touched (nor plan to touch) any Battle Network or Star Force game, yet I’m sure there’s a ton of people that love them and a ton of people got introduced to Megaman through those series as well. There’s nothing wrong with diversity.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

Except that every Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy was different. In Mega Man’s case, that wasn’t necessarily true, which is where the problems seemed to arise back in the GBA days.

isfuturebright

That’s what I was gonna say… Every Final Fantasy (mostly) stand on it’s own. Even for the sub-franchises. So they are independent games… they’re flooding the brand but each game is unique.

I can’t say that about Mega Man. I do love megaman games. I’ve played X, Legends, Battle Network, Zero and I like them but still there’s too many games of each franchise. I would be happy with just one or two of SOME of them really. I played about 4 Battle Network and for me it should have ended at 3. Then it’s just cash making with re-using sprites and things.I mean if you look at Megaman Zero franchise it didn’t evolve much. Yes it has some minor diferences but that’s it… So they start a great spin-off and then start milking money from it instead of taking time to make each sequence great.

WyattEpp

So maybe they’ve given up on it? Then they should give Mega Man X to Vanillaware. That could be amazing. And I’d be interested in what….saaaaaaay, Falcom would do with Legends? Interested. Yes. Quite.

ShawnOtakuSomething

Nintendo

SantiagodelosSantos

I’d say WayForward would do a better job, at least judging what WF has done in the past

WyattEpp

Ooh, I like this idea even better! (And it would mean Jake Kaufman score an MMX game.)

Rogerrmark

Milking the franchise until it dries and drop dead is what went wrong.Cancelling two games and blaming the fans too.

That article is probably one of the worst article i have ever seen recently lol. It is okay for fans who only like Megaman franchise from Capcom to do that lol but asking random people who probably don’t care about Megaman at all? Thats a bit stretching here.

I mean, i am a megaman follower since i am young here. I played almost all Megaman game here even Rockman Soccer there.

However, Capcom also produce many great games that i loved lol.(Monster Hunter, Viewtful Joe, Rival Schools, Resident Evil, Ghost Trick, Phoenix Wright,etc.) Why should not i award company with my money when they produce quality title? Worst if many of those new game with great concept is ignored, it probably will cause many new/old developers to lose their job and of course also causing us gamer to lose chances of having that game continuation there.

I still believe here, the main problem is gamer nowadays really love to overreacted here. I mean Megaman is still released there even though it is not what we wanted. Nintendo has proved that they are able to brougt back Kid Icarus to 3DS after almost 20 years of break? Why can’t Capcom do that here? Is the gamer nowadays can’t even understand that company exist for profit. Not for the gamer itself. Why Megaman is on the stale now? Because it does not bring profit enoough compared to the other franchise.

http://whatistheexcel.com/ Excel-2014

That was exactly the point. The people who actually can make a difference will not listen because they simply don’t care. Once that changes, this article will be there for them.

ShawnOtakuSomething

Just give him a reboot and I mean a REBOOT a new start then they can add or do anything to Megaman. He havent bit the dust yet. He has one more E-tank .

http://whatistheexcel.com/ Excel-2014

A simple series reboot won’t fix what’s wrong with Mega Man. The problems lie in the highest offices of Capcom and only by removing them will we start to see real recovery, because as long as the guard doesn’t change, this whole situation will repeat itself. I want a long-term solution to this and rebooting the series is as short-term as it gets.

ShawnOtakuSomething

man what a bummer What if capcom sell megaman to a another company think that will fix it?

I can’t really say that I agree, though I can see what he is saying. I don’t think anyone ever felt any brand confusion, and I think that those sub-series did a great job of reinvigorating the characters. I myself would have never become the huge fan I am if I hadn’t gotten back into the series with Legends. It let them experiment with new mechanics without ever compromising the original formula, not unlike the many Pokemon or Super Mario spinoffs. The sub-series, if anything, have been the only thing keeping the franchise alive in any way.

MegaMan 9 and 10 were great fun, but I think Capcom needs to realize that MegaMan means more than just retro nostalgia. Whether or not they did a sequel, a reboot, or another new sub-series, players would respond provided that the quality, effort, and gameplay were all there.

Until Capcom actually starts making real MegaMan games of any type again, the major problem with the franchise will be its complete absence.

ZEROthefirst

I for one would love to see them do is give the X series a definite conclusion, as well as ZX and bring back Legends 3. At this point though I’m not getting my hopes, especially the X series that should’ve ended 3 games earlier.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Well X series does already had conclusion there. If you follow InafKing story there, the story ended in X6. Other than that, can be considered non canon depending on the gamer there.

ZEROthefirst

Inafune ended the X series with 5 and went on to the Zero series. Capcom decided to milk the series a bit longer and went onto X6 themsel’ves. The later entries into the Zero series were changed a bit to tie in with later X games, however finding out all of the details before hand from the X series will probably neve come, considering that the X series hit a standstill almost 10 years ago.

manobon

Whatever- the anniversary is going to be like, Maybe an art book with a limited run, and the iOS game with on-file DLC or something.

I really wanted Universe. LittleBigPlanet can inspire so many Games, let alone levels- you think MegaMan fans wouldn’t go Crazy with making challenging levels? Special Creator/Developer levels could be DLC they charged for (with the eventual “Super Creator Level Pack” at a slight/negligable discount). Ugh. It wouldn’t sell “a bazillion copies”, but every MegaMan fan would want it…and Cross Play with Vita! (Not Cross Buy, because they are Capcom)

He’s more or less right, in my opinion, because having multiple sub-series creates the same sort of problem Final Fantasy has; everyone got on at a different game. This affected me even as a kid; my first Mega Man was X, and later I played Mega Man 7 and didn’t like it because it didn’t play like X (I fairly like the original series now, mind).

Someone who got on at Legends isn’t necessarily going to like Zero, and someone who got on at Battle Network isn’t necessarily going to like the originals. Even now, I don’t like Battle Network or Star Force, and that’s what Capcom chose to focus on most for a while. It wasn’t even a reboot sort of thing, the series all ran concurrently more or less, and when the X/Zero/ZX games stopped, the people who didn’t like the others stopped buying. It had effects: Europe didn’t get Starforce 3, for instance.

It’s Capcom’s eternal problem; they flood their audience with games and burn them out, they don’t pace themselves.

Sardorim

I can see how this will end… Megaman pushed to Facebook for the next 10 years.

Jirin

Megaman started going wrong as early as Megaman 4.

Megaman 2 was a step forward from Megaman 1. Megaman 3 introduced sliding and had more stages: The awesome ‘doc robot’ stages that were destroyed-looking versions of the original stages, and where you fought robots inhabited by Megaman 2 robots.

Then…nothing. In Megaman 4 you could charge, they had various different collectible stuff and different Rush vehicles for the next few games, but basically they were the exact same games over and over again. No ‘Doc Robot’ stages or anything different from other Megaman games. Then Megaman X increased Megaman’s movement capabilities and added more storytelling, and that was cool, except they also turned into the same game over and over.

If they want to do something interesting with Megaman, find more original gameplay concepts. Don’t worry about the robot melodrama, that can be basic. Find original things like the ‘Doc robot’ stages and improve Megaman’s control scheme, give us weapons that are interesting and original. Maybe even break from the 8 robot pattern.

theoriginaled

on the one hand i cant help but agree, but on the other it works damn well for mario so thats not all there is to it.

SLick123456789111

Works for Sonic too.
& the Sonic fanbase splits often , but yet the franchise still sells like Slushies in the summer.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Well Sonic case with the blue bomber is totally different here. Sonic is a very big franchise here as it was a mascot of a consoles and company here. Which is why it will still sells like hot cakes just how Mario will sells.

However Megaman is not. For Capcom, it is Street Fighter that grow them into what they are now. So i can not agree with the comparison here.

Göran Isacson

Personally, I disagree and agree. Agree because Megaman DID have a lot of storylines going, and while I personally enjoyed them I can se how it could have confused people. Some storylines being AUs, some being continuations despite the fact that I never felt like Originam Megaman and Megaman X got an offical “this is the end of the storyline” game… that stuff could have hurt them.

But I think that what hurt it the most was sticking to it’s platformer guns. Again, don’t get me wrong: I LOVE the Zero series for what it was, unapologetic pixel-perfect 2D sidescrolling action. But the numbers don’t lie: they didn’t sell well enough to keep the series afloat. I loved them and consider them all high class games, but the audience obviously just wasn’t there anymore. Mario has made a number of forays into different genres and evolved it’s core gameplay over the years with the introduction of 3D and other features, and look at him now: beloved by millions. Megaman stayed the same, and while the old-school fans love him for it they just weren’t enough to keep the series alive, throughout multiple games that innovated far less than the repeated. And the games that DID try different things either fell into repetition and feature creep (Battle Network) or just… disappeared for inexplicable reasons (Legends).

Now how much of the blame for that can be laid at the feet of Capcom is up for discussion. Megaman Legends 3 COULD have been the game that propelled him back into the limelight but then Super Street Inafuna Vs Kings Of Capcom Megabrawl Edition happened and now I feel like no one knows what’s going on anymore. All I can say is that I hope they can make a, if not reboot, genre-update. Perhaps with influence from Vanquish or Ratchet and Clank? Interesting stages with challenging obstacles and a multitide of weapons with different effects and high-speed, high-intensity combat with weird robot-enemies have been center features of the games all this time, and I think if you just focused on bringing those elements to a 3D realm you could create something wonderful.

SetzerGabbiani

All they needed was Mega Man and Mega Man X. After the SNES days and all the “splinter sub-groups” as he puts it, Mega Man fatigue definitely set in. I still maintain that X should have retained the look and feel of the first 3 SNES games when it migrated to the Playstation.

Not saying that games like Mega Man Zero aren’t excellent games, by the way.

ZEROthefirst

The funny thing is that they actually ported X3 to the Playstation (I have it) and it’s the same visuals maybe a bit sharper, just with an updated soundtrack. Honestly though the Megaman X series should have and would have ended with 5 if Capcom could have refrained from milking the X series, and then the Zero series came along and ended quickly.
In my opinion with ZX it should have ended with the first game since it pretty much settled everything, but then again it is a Megaman game so it being dragged along only makes sense lol.

Locklear93

From the perspective of someone who’s NEVER actually liked Megaman (only installation I liked was The Misadeventures of Tron Bonne), I think he’s mistaken. There IS brand confusion for someone who isn’t a “Mega Man fan” per se, and if Capcom wants more than just the core, that’s a bad thing–but a series reboot isn’t “adding a new splinter,” if it’s an actual reboot. A reboot stops all the splinters dead, you start over with just “Mega Man,” and you can be nice and clean about it if you like.

Of course, I’m sure fans of the series would be outraged over the splinter they liked being pushed to the side, so I’m not sure brand clarity is actually worth it.

SLick123456789111

I honestly don’t see why MM can’t just rest in Capcom’s : [DO NOT TOUCH] library of IP’s until the IP is either bought by Nintendo , Namco , Konami or another big company , until Capcom gets bought out by another company & they demand the production of another MM title , or until Capcom goes out of business.
Megaman had a good run , all great things come to an end. Pushing the envelope at this point won’t turn out good in the end for Capcom or the fans. Again.

The thing is, despite all of the links you give, Capcom currently own and is the only one who can legally make MM games. That fans are making concepts and expressing ideas which put them to shame, which they aren’t even looking at, is besides the point.

SLick123456789111

Correct.
It’s the fact that Capcom can’t make a Megaman game now on their own terms. Not unless they have someone like a Miyamoto or Inafune. Someone with a clear vision for the IP. Someone who has passion & actually “wants” to make the games , not just for the money like Street Fighter. Those type of developers only come around few & far between. Developers with creative minds like theirs.

Not to mention todays market & how Capcom would attempt to exploit it yet again with the IP. They’ve already done it with Dragons Dogma , Street Fighter , Resident Evil & Marvel vs Capcom.

All these & more reasons all add up to why Megaman isn’t & shouldn’t be brought back.

The roms & such are enough. Fans act like they can’t go back & play the classics , like they don’t exist. Those titles are the whole reason why most of these fans are even posting here.

Godmars

I think the point you’re missing is that from Capcom’s point of view they aren’t making money from the roms and such that are floating around the internet for free. Which only speaks more of their inability to look at the fan base and respond to what is a still existent need or market demand for new MM.

Wolframium

Well, if they aren’t making any money on the roms, they should pull of a Square Enix and start remaking/porting their old games to pretty much every platform.

Or take the Sega route and keep on rebooting untill they hit the jackpot (Sonic Generations)

It’s not like they don’t have any options at all, it’s just corporate greed, plain and simple.

PS: Of course they could , I don’t know, make a new Mega Man game or something…

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

“It’s not like they don’t have any options at all, it’s just corporate greed, plain and simple.”

Or it’s the fact that games cost a lot of money to make nowadays, and you can’t dedicate an entire group to flinging games out left and right, to see if one of them sticks. Again, I wish people would think of the realities of game development before making the usual ignorant “corporate greed” remark.

Godmars

@Ishaan:disqus : Unfortunately, there’s still the examples of Capcom making very active appeals towards fans, dropping out of them, then blaming those said same fans for doing so because not enough of them showed a commitment.

This is a sad instance of corporate greed. The only thing worse is if they crapped something out – like a cheap iOS game – amid much anniversary hype and expectation.

EDGEucator is right: the best thing they could have done to celebrate the series, since they had no real ideas, was nothing.

British_Otaku

I disagree on the Sega route quite strongly. They didn’t “reboot” till they hit the jackpot, they had release after release develop new ideas which eventually evolved into Sonic Generations.

A reboot is distinguished by a different angle of storytelling, a new protagonist (or different enough to be new), distancing away for other releases and/or a completely new gameplay style.

So at least to me, Megaman is closer to that with each franchise being distant to varying extents. Sonic Adventure is followed by 2, Heroes and Shadow. Sonic 06 is retconned by the ending. The storybook games occur on a different plain of existence only featuring the same Sonic. More or less like Mario’s platforming games.

On the topic of what you are saying, Capcom should get more in the habit of releasing old games on digital stores or on the portables. Leaving them to the NES and SNES doesn’t earn them money, neither does leaving fans to find roms or cheap compilations. SEGA and Squeenix haven’t missed out.

OatMatadoQuatro

I would like to know “what went wrong with Mega Man Legends 3?”

Michael Revis

They pretty much just blamed the fans for not being devoted enough if I remember correctly, which is pretty bullshit in its own right.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

I wouldn’t attribute the actions of one ignorant PR representative to the entire company.

Razlo

I can’t say I understand why he’d give that reasoning for MM failure, while at the same time a Mega Man spin-off is about to come out. Confusing!

Anime10121

Its because while Sven is a major part of Capcom, and has an influence on Capcom Japan, that’s ALL he has, is influence. His opinion doesnt mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, because honestly anything he even tries to suggest, still has to be approved by Capcom Japan. I dont even think HE knows whats up with Megaman. If Capcom Japan doesnt tell him (and even if they do) he cant know/divulge information on why their holding Megaman hostage to the public. The decision to inform the masses must be made by Capcom Japan, which is why whatever Monster Hunter news they have that’s releasing “this year” can only be spilled whenever CJ decides they are ready.

While I dont have much of a problem with Capcom America, I do think Sven talks a little too much/soon about things hes not certain about. When the rumors of Megaman Universe’s cancellation hit, it was less than a month before its cancellation that Sven assured everyone it was still being worked on and would look a lot better the next time we saw it. Legends 3 had a similar situation, after Universe’s cancellation when the rumors hit that Legends 3 would similarly hit the chopping block Sven assure us there was nothing to worry about as far as Legends 3 and Megaman as a whole, less than 5 months later, its gone too, and he couldnt give a reason why (likely because either he didnt know, or Capcom wouldnt tell him).

As you said, the entire existence of Rockman X/over completely nulls Sven’s entire theory on “what went wrong with Megaman”. Either he doesnt really know, cuz Capcom wont tell him, or its another case of him saying something that he truly doesnt know the full story about, and thusly giving false information. While he’s meaning well, Im sure, he needs to keep quiet until he knows something or can divulge Capcom Japan’s reasoning for real. All Sven’s “top men” comments mean nothing to me until we actually receive SOME kind of real info about a Megaman game and not just merchandise/comics.

anarchy_panty

I think what went wrong with Mega Man is that Capcom simply expects too large of a return on every game they put out. If they had more modest expectations, I doubt Mega Man would be in this weird-hiatus-thing that he’s currently in. Anyone else remember that one statement from a Capcom exec before Dragon’s Dogma came out? How he expected that game to sell 10 million copies?

And there it is.
The weird, below the surface levels of just…asinine hubris still make me cringe.

Michael Revis

Same thing happened with Breath of Fire, as well as other franchises. They weren’t making them as much money as Street Fighter, so they just stopped all production of future titles. Corporate greed is a terrible thing.

FFmax

Right? It’s like if the game doesn’t sell like millions of copies, they just pull the plug on it. I despise this way of thinking. It’s sad to see potential quality games disappear because of this greediness.

Fr33Kingdom

It’s because in the minds of people that run publishers, every property or ip that they are putting money into and not getting MASSIVE amounts of return, is money they could be putting into an ip that will. It’s like how kotick said that they don’t want anything that can’t be exploited in the future. If an ip isn’t doing blockbuster sales, then it better have the potential of blockbuster sales because otherwise they could spend their time on something that does.

Spirit Macardi

Sorry, but I can’t say I follow this guy’s reasoning. I mean, what’s inherently bad about a brand branching out into various spin-offs? That’s usually a good thing, since it creates choice for the consumer.

Hell, just look at Mario. He’s easily had more spin-off games than Mega Man, yet he’s going as strong as ever.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000172099718 Dominic Hunter

Yeah, and the “Battle Network” and “Zero/ZX” games did great, so what’s the deal?

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Did great? Not enough is better there.T_T

LynxAmali

Uh…

ZXA did bad.
Hence is why we never got ZX3.

Which makes me a really sad panda as that was a story that would actually conclude with a third game (ZXA’s special credit sequence comes to mind. That still bothers me.)

Christopher Nunes

How did ZXA did bad? I loved that game, true the game’s transformations on the boss could’ve been better and had more versatile uses so they weren’t simply used to access new places.

I was looking forward to the third ZX game.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

The game is not bad at all hell the story is also interesting but the main point here is that the game sell badly. So…….ZX series is more or less dead unless Cacpom goes crazy and feels that coming out ZX3 is going to make the game sell better.

Christopher Nunes

I’m not even going to begin pointing out the grammar mistakes there… XD

Anyway it sucks that it sold badly, it really was a great game. Why did it do so poorly? No advertisement for the for both US and Japan?

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Sorry about the grammar there.T_T Well, advertisement do exist there but i think brand fatigue or brand confusion is probably one of the main problem there.

I remember some Megaman fans saying ZX is trash as they are now talking about human rather than X or Zero there. In Japan, they have manga, mini anime trailer for promotion so i believe they already had advertisement done right there.

It is just like how Megaman Zero never ever sells so much there as the MC is Zero and for people who hate Zero choose not to buy the game there causing Megaman fans to break into each game faction there.

Christopher Nunes

Really don’t get it… gameplay is the same but with different characters and I for one enjoyed each game. Zero is my second character in the series, right behind Axl, and then X. I grew up with the X series, but played the Network games and Legends games and I loved them as well.

Even the Zero and ZX games were awesome! I don’t understand some people calling ZX trash when it’s just like the X series but with different or added features to it.

Such a sad thing to see when fans of the series diverse like that, I enjoy every incarnation of any series and each one holds a special place in my heart.

LynxAmali

I’m referring in terms of sales.

Advent didn’t sell well enough to get a third game.

Christopher Nunes

That sucks… I enjoy ALL Mega Man games, and didn’t really care if they split it into different universe with robots and network themes.

I was looking forward to ZX3 a lot. :(

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Well if you noticed, it also happens to many other franchises that diverse themselves a lot there especially Mario and Sonic lol. Where there are certain fanbase that loves 3D type of gameplay and hated the 2D gameplay while the other sides also hated 3D type of gameplay and loved the 2D gameplay there.

It is just that Megaman brand never goes as big as those two brand there which is sad when most of the game has been hell of fun.T_T

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Once again here lol. Comparing Mario or Sonic with the Blue Bomber is wrong here as Mario and Sonic are a very big franchise for each respective company there and both of them previously is known as consoles mover there.

However Megaman never achieved that states here. It is okay on the past when economy is doing okay for games to sells average there. However with the current economy where prices keep increasing, and gamer buying power is decreasing. Average sales is not acceptable anymore.

And while creating lots of spin-off is great as it provide choices to the gamer, it can also reduce the value of the main series there. For example: Summon Night has quite a lot of spin off there which is brought here to the west and when people suddenly sees the main numbered series to be traditional strategy rpg, they said it is not Summon Night there.

Spirit Macardi

So it’s wrong to compare one mascot character to another simply because they were created by different companies?

Yeah, no…

Regardless of the economic climate and current/past sales figures they were created with the same purpose: make a character and a brand to associate with their parent company. Hence it’s perfectly fine to compare them.

Plus, sales weren’t what was being discussed, it was the existence of spin-offs. This person pretty much said that spin-offs are a pure negative, and I offered a counter-example that disproves it.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

It IS different here as Blue Bomber never sells that much even before. Hell it is also not have that appeal to the mass gamer like Sonic and Mario.

It is not wrong to compare mascot character between company here but it is surely wrong if you compared them with the wrong one here. The best comparison would be Blue Bomber with Metroid,Shinobi or Castlevania here as while the franchise is famous, they never sells more than the other 2 giant franchises here.

hadjimurad

he didn’t say spin offs were inherently bad. but if they confuse the consumer, flood the market, and devalue the brand, then, yes, they are bad. this is common business/marketing knowledge. he is asserting that this is/has been the fact with MM.

Spirit Macardi

I still can’t say I agree, but kudos to you for explaining things better than he did x3

However, if they’re truly concerned about series of theirs that have too many spin-offs, then I think Street Fighter and Resident Evil are far more worthy of the pruning shears.

SirRichard

Well, as he says, this is Svensson’s own opinion, not one that reflects Capcom as a whole. Which is the problem, of course: the people in charge aren’t truly concerned about flooding the market, because whenever they do they just blame it on a particular game, or the audience not being there.

hadjimurad

i agree with you about street fighter and resident evil. remember how long fans waited for a new street fighter after Third Strike because of the over-saturation? i think (a lot do, actually) capcom has a problem with milking a series to the point of extinction. i agree with him that this is what caused the current issue with MM. (in my opinion, not necessarily spin-offs, just the mismanagement of them, in terms of timing, clear purpose, connection between the different games. this needs to be clear to the consumer BEFORE he/she plays the game, so that they want the game).

Jonathan Keycross

Street Fighter and Resident Evil don´t have the same amount of
spin-offs/entries with different gameplays, which I think is the source
of concern in his case.

Personally, I enjoyed most of the games the same way I enjoyed most of the Mario games, but that´s just my opinion.

Street Fighter has many ports and remakes, but not that many games that differ in gameplay as in the case of megaman. We could consider the Alpha and Ex entries as spin-offs, but still, compared the megaman, the list runs short.

The same could be said about Resident Evil with games like Dead Aim, Outbreak and Operation Racoon City. Still not as many as Megaman.

Nemesis_Dawn

I think Megaman 10 was a huge mistake. Megaman 9, it was a fun novelty that they made it all 8-bit and such, but with 10, it was like, “Wait, so they’re just going to stay stuck in the past?” If 10 had been a full-on Bionic Commando Rearmed type game with 2.5D graphics for the PS3 and 360, it would have helped the franchise a great deal.
Two other points:
1) I find it funny how Capcom say that it was a bad thing to made splinter spin-offs, when DmC is exactly that for the Devil May Cry series, as they’ve said they’re interested in continuing both continuities.
2) If there had to be any innovation that I think could help the Megaman series…I’d say…go Metroid with them. Instead of levels, make them one big open world. You can go anywhere, but there are areas cut off if you don’t have the right boss weapons. Keep it in HD, keep it in a 2D plain, make it a visual treat, but have one hub area that you start off in and let it all be one big level with the area for Doctor Wily only accessible after you’ve defeated the other 8 robot masters.

KilsanZ

Capcom,let go of the franchise,sell it to somebody who know how to handle it now

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

You talk as if any other publisher would give a damn about Mega Man. They wouldn’t. To any outsiders, this is practically a dead property. Capcom are likely the only ones that would be willing to try and pursue some sort of future for the series. No one else would care.

Not to just be contrary or anything, but I kinda think there probably are some companies that would want to work on a “dead property”, particularly one that is so heavily merchandised right now. I mean, how many dead franchises has Nintendo revived with no apparent motivation?

Also, I’m pretty sure that Inafune’s current studio would probably love to be able to work on the franchise, with or without Capcom’s involvement.

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

“I mean, how many dead franchises has Nintendo revived with no apparent motivation?”

You would be very, very surprised at some of the motivations at work that aren’t always apparent on the outside, but are part of a whole lot of other decisions, or are calculated risks.

- Metroid (popular western franchise to help establish a western studio)
- Kid Icarus: U (popular character from Brawl, ripe for a “new” IP)
- 2D Mario games (look at the sales)
- Dragon Quest in the west (look at the sales)
- Fatal Frame (part of a much larger collaboration with Tecmo Koei)
- Sin & Punishment 2 (gauged interest from Virtual Console; cheap to produce)
- Punch-Out!! (popular western property; relatively cheap to produce)
- Donkey Kong Country Returns (look at the sales)

Katamari Toys

I dont think so Tim, Inafune and CyberConnect2 showed interest in it, and I think there must have some small developers that would love to use it as they see fit, heck, they could just thrown it to ASW make a “remake” like they did with Contra > Hard Corps I dont think that it would sell worse than MM9

http://www.siliconera.com/ Ishaan

CyberConnect2 are more of a developer, not so much a publisher (although, they do occasionally publish passion projects like Solatorobo, when they aren’t busy working on anime games for Namco).

When Matsuyama made that comment about wanting to work on Legends 3, he meant working on it under Capcom’s supervision. As a project financed by them. Not while spending his own company’s money.

As for ArcSys, they’ve never shown any particular interest in Mega Man, so I don’t know where you got that idea from.

Eilanzer

Sorry to disagree but…The name “Mega man” still has weight and is not dead at all!
Just look at sonic now and compare with the “dead property” he was some years ago…

British_Otaku

Whatever you may say about Sonic’s game quality,the franchise has been the core of SEGA for many years to the point where crossover games like All Stars feature his name much like Mario Kart does, they don’t tend to sell poorly on a Sonic game which means they aren’t out of money as well as awareness.

It was hardly ever a dead property. For each weak or unrated title, there would be many portables or otherwise alternative good releases. The presence it got as the main feature on a console decades back help as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jodecideion?feature=mhum TheWon and Only

AKA we don’t want to make anymore 2D games nor do we know how to make MegaMan in 3D. Capcom sell the character to Nintendo or someone who has a idea on how to make basic games.

SuperSailorV

For gods sake don’t encourage them, we might end up with another DmC…

Luna Kazemaru

And dmc gameplay wise is turning out to look well and some people are still butt hurt about. *looking your way*

http://twitter.com/sylar1985 Sylar100

So what? It’s there opinion? If they don’t like the new DMC, why do you care so much? This is the second comment in the article that you’ve run to so you could get angry at the slightest hint of someone not liking the new Dante or new DMC.

In relation to the actual article. I actually liked the Megaman battle network games since i could actually play them with relative ease. I don’t really like the older “classic” megaman games since i suck too much at them. Not really fun for me.

Luna Kazemaru

*nvm not wasting my time*

http://twitter.com/sylar1985 Sylar100

Thats fine with me.

WEL

I want more Megaman games like Megaman X4, Megaman 8 and Megaman Legends but for consoles. I don’t like handhelds and I liked Megaman 9 but then Megaman 10 with garbage 8-bit graphics again was boring. =(

Michael Revis

A Megaman reboot is probably the best thing we can hope for at this point. Then again, I’m afraid that if they do, they’d turn our Blue Bomber into some kind of trashy-looking, smart-mouthed brat in a desperate attempt to pander to western audiences.

Luna Kazemaru

I already know where you going with that. Very mature..

LynxAmali

-Then again, I’m afraid that if they do, they’d turn our Blue
Bomber into some kind of trashy-looking, smart-mouthed brat in a
desperate attempt to pander to western audiences.

The irony I see here is that Capcom´s take on an alternate megaman is the complete opposite of a trashy-looking, smart-mouthed brat…but rather a silly-looking humble old man based on a western box art.

Fr33Kingdom

I’d play the fuck out of that.

http://www.jb2x.com/wordpress/ JB2X

Executive 1: “We have Top Men working on what to do with the Mega Man franchise”

You know what I’d love to see? A remake of MegaMan Zero series, and/or continuing the 3D X remakes for handhelds because I damn enjoyed Maverick Hunter X

Nicholas Perry

You can blame Piracy for no MHX2 >:(
They were going to remake a lot of MMX games apparently. But it sold so poorly that they just dropped it all. (like ~10k units in the US IIRC. Which you know in contrast to the “If it doesn’t sell millions it’s a failure” mentality. Actually IS pretty much a failure)

Which is a SHAME BECAUSE THE GAME AND THE OVA WERE FUCKIN AMAZING

chalkcl

>like ~10k units in the US IIRC
Wait, that low!? ASDFGASF$@#HASFBIAFHB”I/&%$/WBFJ$#&BWJFK/$%BAWL?)?FABFAWIUFB

Godmars

Megaman has always been a “B” class game series, but since everything this gen has to be “AAA” Capcom just doesn’t know what to do.

Anime10121

One of the reasons I dislike the current mind set this gen. Anything thats not AAA and selling a million copies, is considered a failure as a franchise and then either relegated to handhelds or small downloadable games. There’s not room for anything other than big Hollywood size budget games, and MANY gamers follow the same bull kinda mindset, if a game isn’t scored at least an “8″ by “critics” they’ll look over the game as not something worth spending their time/money on, or they’ll buy used (which is basically the same as not buying at all as far as publishers/devs are concerned).

Since the middle of last gen onwards, things have started to head to a very sinister outlook for the future, with exploding budgets, high prices, games being broken up to sell as DLC, gamers not pursuing games that arent rated to certain standards, and so many more issues. The system is broken, and unless things start to turn around, all the rumors of next gen being the last console cycle may prove more true than I would like to believe :(

Anime10121

I’m thinking Megaman would have faired a LOT better had a “real” console Megaman been released in the last decade. The last mainline Megaman game we got on a real console was X5 in 2001. X6-X Command Mission can very much be considered spin offs since they retcon a lot of what’s supposed to happen (and the fact that Inafune wanted to end X at X5, and it DID end with a proper conclusion).

Megaman was doing good enough then that Capcom decided against Inafune and created 4 more X games after he had already concluded it. But for some reason, after X5 all true Megaman games were delegated to handheld titles. Its a known fact that while a few series can still pull impressive numbers on handhelds, consoles are where the majority of sells are made in the west. I really and truly feel that if the Zero, ZX, and Legends 3 games were made for a console, even without having “impressive graphics” they would have sold a whole lot more/gotten completed.

Capcom destroyed Megaman in the west by putting the wrong/crappy games (X6,X7,X8, and X:CM) on console and relegating the good “main” games to handhelds (Zero 1-4, ZX, ZX:A, and Legends 3). I will never understand such stupid decisions, especially if they wanted the series to see success, not having a true Megaman game for consoles for all of 11 years is enough to kill any franchise.

http://www.angelmassb.co.nr/ Angel Mass

Sometimes I feel bad for Sven, he is basically just the punching bag Capcom has for the USA costumers

Anime10121

Agreed completely, but a lot of it IS his fault though, for giving “opinion” peices like this, without knowing/being able to divulge Capcom’s true reasoning. He’s burned two bridges with me as far as Megaman by saying that both Universe AND Legends 3 were fine when rumors hit both about cancellation when he obviously didnt know what was going on behind the scenes at Capcom Japan.

Regardless, I’ve pretty much gotten over the fact that the Megaman series I know and love, for all intents and purposes, is pretty much dead. While I would love for a continuation of Legends, ZX, or a REAL continuation of the classic series (and not just another throwback sequel), I know that it will likely never happen, what’s more likely to happen, is a reboot that’ll likely throw away all the entire established canon/story, and be completely different in looks and style.

gomas

“It comes with the territory”… and sorry but, you really believe that he “worries” about this stuff?…

Josh Strange

ahh video games.. this was the last genre of life i would ever think to have drama.

Jonathan Keycross

This is just my personal opinion, but I think capcom never intended to turn megaman into a mascot like Mario and Sonic, at least in the beginning.
Mario was used to promote a console just like Sonic, so both characters were required to show the gameplay capabilities of their respective consoles in as many situations as possible (which explains the amount of different entries of both franchises).

In the case of megaman, the franchise was a well known action platformer and they stuck with the formula with some additions as the series progressed. The problem came when, noticing the popularity of the character, they decided to shift the role of the franchise and try to turn it into a mascot of sorts with games that tried to mimic Mario (one character, different gameplays), like Megaman Soccer, Battle & Chase, Power Fighters and Command Mission. This mindset led to the birth of new established series like Battle Network or Legends. The amount of spinoffs made it more harder to figure out the relationship between the spin-off and the character, dividing the audience who wanted “Y” version of megaman instead of “Z” version.

In other words, the megaman franchise suffers an identity crisis that makes it harder to figure out what the fanbase wants from a megaman game. People were happy to know a new megaman legends 3 was coming, but at the same time others who didn´t like legends were annoyed or uninterested and would´ve preferred another game like a MMZ5. Perhaps Capcom expected that 90-100% of the megaman fanbase would actively support MML3, when in reality less than that were interested in a new game of that particular universe. In that regard, if true, I can understand Svensson´s point of view of the issue.

Luna Kazemaru

This post makes alot of sense.

http://www.facebook.com/matthew.wong.1029 Matthew Wong

This is well thought out, however most of the fanbase was behind Mega Man Legends 3 and Zero 4 ended that series. Also as a long term Mega Man fan I can say that me and other fans would say that we just want a quality Mega Man game, not crappy IOS social buzz kill. I don’t agree or disagree with Svensson since he was responding to a question about a reboot. We dont need that but at the same time is he is ignoring the fact the Capcom is responsible for Mega Man’s decline as it hasnt made an actual game for him in years.

M’iau M’iaut

There were indeed plenty of folks questioning the Battle Network series and how it pretty blatantly tried to piggy back off the collecting game craze — right down to the multiple versions. Even Legends was not as universally loved at that time as folks today want to make it. I understand the love of nostalgia and of this particular character, but his original idea and your analysis have much evidence to support it.

http://idiotboxwtb.tumblr.com Idiot Box

i dont know…. as capcom is doing things this days…. maybe is not that bad that they dont make megaman games anymore. keep the good memories and dont ruin it even more. now. i have to say… im agreed with him, megaman shoud have stopped with X or maybe maybe MMZ. why make more brands if you havent even finished the fist one.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Gustavo-Arten/1752086475 Gustavo Arten

but we fans are not asking for a new brand, just a mm x9 or even the legends 3 would make us happy but, no, capcom must had woken up on the morning and thougth “lets kill megaman, we don’t have anything better to do anyway..”
capcom lost my respect..

Godmars

More like “lets celebrate one of our oldest franchises, but half ass all efforts then cancel them.”

http://wiredjungle.wordpress.com/ DrakosAmatras

You know, this habit of yours is getting redundant… Do you mind stopping?

Godmars

Not trying to troll, but what habit are you talking about?

By all counts Capcom had at least one major project, MM Online, well underway only to cancel it with no understandable explanation. Then MML which they may or may not have been fully commit to, but then they still actively stirred up fan support. Which included a demo they wanted money for. Before the plug was pulled on that it seemed like enough people were responding, but it was canceled regardless. With the added insult that someone within the company pinned the blame on fans.

I can’t think of anything more descriptive than half assed than that.

http://wiredjungle.wordpress.com/ DrakosAmatras

Whatever dissatisfactions you’ve had with whichever companies is not part of my implication. I’m referring to your general habit of complaining on threads with accusations and attacks. (What, someone in the company blamed the fans and you blame the whole company? You seemed to have missed the bolded line in the article.) Until a few days ago, it was Square Enix and Final Fantasy XIII; now it’s Capcom and MegaMan? If you’re looking for reasons to complain, knock yourself out, but don’t do it here.

M’iau M’iaut

The habit of posting things that are not designed to encourage discussion, but rather bait someone into unnecessary argument. And it is a very old habit. Companies do not owe explanation for every game cancelled or otherwise adjusted. I never recall any information that would lend assumption to the idea that Megaman Online was well underway. Making such claims without providing even a hint of factual data again does not allow for real talk; just more he said/she said that does not benefit anyone.

http://www.facebook.com/people/フォード-ロン/100002864645122 フォード ロン

same here! i grew up playing capcom games like mmx, onimusha, street fighter…its just not the same with those guys now. i dont buy their claim about the megaman franchise at all. they clearly see MANY fans want a new game. It was like that even with MML3, hell even UMVC3 X was the most wanted character. If they dont want the series they should give it to someone that give the fans what they want…Namco..cough cough (TTT2) Capcom has truly lost its flavor. They should take a hint from the guys that made Dust for xbla

FFmax

Capcom’s just a shell of it’s former self at this point.

Luna Kazemaru

I really love how you all can make clams like that just because you are upset.

FFmax

Of course I’m upset. Cancelling a game and blaming it’s fans? DLC that’s on the disk? Impossible sales expectations? This is not the same company I knew these past years. It’s just an imposter to me.

Nanashrew

well… it’s the truth. nearly all the best members of capcom have moved on and work for other companies or have started their own. take platinum games, it’s made up of mostly members from clover studios and they follow the original spirit of capcom. just like RARE is a shell of its former self in the same way, all their best original members left and now work for retro studios.

now we take a look at this and how they treat megaman, the bluebomber who built this company, who people still love. it’s terrible. the games this guy talks about are no more, all the sub series games are finished and had an actual ending, the only thing they have left is classic, X, ZX and legends. if they want to talk about brand confusion they should bring up their street fighter series because at least with megaman you can tell each series apart.

EDIT: for typos

Hinataharem

I’m not a MM fan but I can say that Capcom hasn’t been the best to him. Luckily, it could be far worse. I wouldn’t give up hope yet. Time hasn’t ended.

Higaki Rinne

Okay I might not be a business expert and I certainly don’t know inside sales data, but I find the “self-competition” argument rather ridiculous. There’ve been two lines: adventure games (BN-style) and action games (everything else) and for many many years already there haven’t been a situation where they’d release two radically different titles in the same release window.

Is there really such a big difference between calling a sequel Mega Man Zero 5 and calling it ZX? And if you feel audience isn’t aware of what your products are like, then why aren’t you doing ANYTHING to raise the awareness and are just trying to bank on brand recognition with minimal additional promotion? Because it was exactly that what killed Mega Man, not audience being too stupid to tell games apart.

http://animereviews.co/ Nadav

Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero. These games were awesome. I’m sure I’m the minority on this but I actually liked them more than the original Megaman games.

Sammy Garner

As long as I’m able to get my E-TANK of MEGAMAN OST, I’m gud.

Just Tim

Where to start?

Let’s start when SCEA FORCED Capcom into making a 3D MegaMan game (Legends), so that traditional 2D MM games would get into PSX.

Even before that, let’s think about the time when corporate forced Inafune into dragging the X saga and not ending it on X5, as originally planned.

Oh, the multiple spinoffs and alternate universes.

And finally, the fact that the spinoffs really ruined MM franchise in the eyes of the main timeline (Classic -> X -> Zero -> ZX -> Legends) fans, and coupled to the fact Nemesis (the fact CoD crowd’s also into zombies, go figure) has been bringing in moolah for Capcom.